Hardest of Hearts (Adopted from Daria)
by jessica.dangerfield.9
Summary: ADOPTED from DAREIA. Dimitri left Rose— for Tasha as far as the evidence shows. That was 17 years ago. But Rose wasn't left alone for long. And no, it wasn't Lissa who picked up the pieces, it was her miracle twins. And their life is never boring— so what will happen now Dimitri has returned?
1. Chapter 1: THE NEW MENTOR

"I can't believe this is happening to me!" My 16 year old daughter— Sonja— rushed through the door and up to her room, screaming her lungs out. Her brother— Niko— followed her in the front door and closed it.

"What now?" I sighed as I asked my son.

My daughter tended to get a little passionate and opinionated about… well, everything. That's the nicest possible way to put it. She constantly and surprisingly frequently reminded me of myself when I was her age: impulsive, stubborn, loud.

Against all odds, I got pregnant with another dhampir's children when I was only 17. All the genealogy and biology books say that's impossible. You agree with them? Try telling that to my twins.

They were now 16 years old. Nikolai was a mere 4 minutes and 23 seconds older than his sister. Most brothers would rub that in, but not my Niko. He was pretty much his father all over again, almost Dimitri Belikov take 2. He was one of St Vladimir's best novices both of his time and in the Academy's history. Of course and unsurprisingly, he was a brilliant fighter– he couldn't not be, really, could he? He was Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov's eldest child, after all. He was incredibly eager to learn everything about the world that was out there to absorb. I suppose that thirst for knowledge and cultural enrichment, too, came from his father. Niko, in another show of being his father's son, always seemed to be in control. Key word: _seemed_. There were certain things that got under his skin and then, much like me, he struggled to let it go. Prime example: one Adrian Ivashkov still flirting with one Niko and Sonja Hathaway's mother– me, one Rose Hathaway.

And then there was my daughter, Sonja Hathaway. She was so much a polar opposite of her brother I can now understand how my teachers must have felt about me. She was reckless, sarcastic, and always fighting someone or something. Trouble liked to follow her like a lost puppy; trouble was attracted to her like a moth was drawn to a flame. She was also so stubborn and opinionated that she always had to say the last word. That's not to say she was any less gifted than her brother when it came to fighting. Far from it. She was just as excellent as him. Much like when I was her age, her potential to be one of the best would be realised once that temper of hers was reined in and she learned how to control it herself.

Despite being the definition of polar opposites, as siblings— twins especially— they were better than I could ask or have ever hoped for. They were constantly there to support each other. As the trouble maker, Sonja tended to need Niko to settle her down, keep her reined in, and bail her out.

Don't get me started on her and the boys. Niko took his protective big brother roll very seriously and tried to scare the keen-eyed boys away… every boy in all reality. I don't think that helped with the way she flirts up a storm, however. Again, she's too like me for my comfort. That doesn't change the fact if anything was to ever happen to Niko, I had no doubt her father's side would shine through and she would be just as supportive.

"She got a new mentor," Niko explained. He sat on the sofa and plonked his bag down beside him.

"Why? What happened to Guardian Meron? And bag on the floor, Nikolai Hathaway."

It wasn't because the furniture was expensive, it was just because it was polite and kept the sofa clean that I asked him to remove the bag, and he immediately shifted it. Still the good boy.

Guardian Meron's leaving should not have been news to me. Lissa had taken over from Kirova as Headmistress a handful of years ago and everything regarding my kids she ran by me. Except for this, apparently. I wasn't terribly happy about that fact, either. Why would she keep me out of the loop?

Ironically enough, I had ended up teaching here. I had spent nearly my entire school life here, kicking, screaming, and just plain desperate to escape. St Vladimir's, however, just ended up being my home more than I had ever realised. My entire life had revolved around the teachers and pupils here, the routine. It still did and I was glad to be sharing Sonja and Niko's Academy life here with them. I mean, they _were_ conceived in the woods surrounding this very Academy's campus, so it wasn't really very surprising we all ended up back here.

"I guess he got tired of Sonja. Aunt Lissa said something along the lines of 'he said "that little witch is hopeless and I'm not willing to sacrifice my mental health for her problematic ways".'" Niko's mouth curled into a little smile. Just like his father, Niko didn't show his emotions often. It had start coming about when he was five or six and from then on, eliciting a smile from him was as much of a challenge as it had been getting one from his father.

"How dare he!" I abruptly stood from the sofa at right angles to his.

Anger and the fury of a mother ran through my veins. That Meron guardian dude wasn't much of one if he was going around calling my prodigy and unique daughter hopeless and a little witch. I was ready to hunt him down and demand answers as to why he couldn't handle his 16 year old student. I mean, I get she can be difficult and a pain, but that doesn't give anyone the permission to speak slanderously about her behind her back, let alone to her face. It wasn't her fault he was a shitty teacher and couldn't see her true potential.

Then, just like his father, Niko spoke calmly, reasonably. "Mom, calm down. He's already left anyway."

How he could defuse me like that was a wonder. I sighed as I sat back down. "So who is her new mentor?"

"That's the point. She's got the best." Oh god. Please no. Please! For once, could I please have something happen in my favour? "Yet she makes it sound as if it's the end of the world. I would give my right arm to learn from him." _Oh, please, heaven and hell please don't let it be!_

Sonja joined us from the kitchen she'd entered a few moments ago, now carrying a plate of sandwiches. She glared at her brother as she sat beside him and offered him a sandwich, which the growing teen dhampir boy took. "I don't bloody care _who he **is!**_ He's a sadistic bastard." _See what I mean by amazing siblings?_ Sharing food despite arguing. "How on earth is it fair that you get James— who lets you listen to your iPod— and I get stuck with the sadistic bastard of a cryptic old man with crappy Zen lessons and a creepy addiction to running? I haven't actually trained with him— all he wants to do is make me run as if I could eventually cross the bloody USSR in one day!"

 _ **NO!**_ I wanted to scream and cry and be sick thanks to the flips and churning my stomach was doing. _One of the best… crappy Zen lessons… addiction to running… cross the USSR in one day…_ Oh, I hoped I was wrong. But how could I be? I was never bloody wrong, but this time I wanted to be, I wanted to be so wrong this time that I'd be so relieved I'd cry and laugh.

"Who is he?" I asked with dread coursing through me, threatening to block my airways and choke me to death. Oh, how noble a way to die. _Thanks, you great big Russian dick!_

 _Besides, aren't you with Tasha?_

I'd know if he was coming back. Surely Lissa wouldn't have assigned him to mentor Sonja without consulting me? Surely she would tell me or the bond would clue me in that she knew he had returned, wouldn't she? I mean, sure, she hadn't a clue that big Russian dick was the twins father— only Adrian knew because the aura vision and his listening skills made him smarter than he was credited for being— but _still!_ She would have told me… wouldn't she?

"Guardian Belikov," Sonja announced with such disgust I would have laughed. In any other situation. _God, crap, shit, holy effing hell; Karma's a bitch!_

My blood turned to ice in my veins, freezing me in shock, and panic, and fear. What the Hell was I meant to do _NOW!_ Dimitri had returned and that could only mean one thing… my life was about to fall apart at the seams. He was my— _our—_ daughter's mentor! He wasn't going to be blind for long now! What was I going to do? What were the twins going to do? Just like Dimitri, they weren't going to stay blind for long either. Both of them looked so much like him, but Niko looked like him as a teenager all over again… or so I could tell. And for god's sake, what was Dimitri going to do when he saw his teenage reflection happened to be my son? His new mentee's twin brother? Again! What the hell am I to do now it's all going to catch up with me? I guess it's true: you can run from your past, you can try to hide from it, but eventually all your skeletons are going to come out of the closet. My family was about to be sent through Hurricane History-Catches-Up-With-Us.


	2. Chapter 2: HELLO, GOODBYE

RPOV

"I've got a great idea!" Sonja grinned wickedly at her brother. I knew from experience that nothing good could come from it. That grin always meant she was plotting. Again, she was far too much like me all over again. "I'll give you Belikov and that way James is all mine!"

Niko had to go all _Zen_ on his sister like their father had done with me. "Sonja, you can't toss mentors around like dolls." He sighed, shook his head, and pulled his hands through his hair, which happened to be the same length as his father's had been. How I lived with a Dimitri repeat after all he'd done to me I'll _never_ know.

"I don't give a damn!" she resolutely argued. "I'm talking to Aunt Lissa."

"Mom?" Niko waited for me to say something, anything. Only, I'd barely heard a word they'd said. I was still trying to come to grips with the fact he was back, _AND_ mentoring our daughter who seemed to detest his methods. _Too much like me._ "Mom!"

"Oh, yes?" I tried to clear my head and focus on them, _not_ my issues of skeletons coming out of our closet.

"Are you alright? You seem a little pale and unfocused," observed Niko. His concerned eyes pierced me, the eyes that were his father's shade of brown.

 _Sure, I feel amazing. Your unsuspecting and kept-in-the-dark daddy is back after nearly two decades. Hip-hip-hooray! Yeah..._ _ **no**_ _!_

I forced a smile onto my face and responded. "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine. Just zoned out a little. What were you going on about?"

Sonja radiated pride and cunning. _Oh no. What now?_ "I'm going to ask Aunt Lissa to replace that Russian Drill Sargent Belikov with James."

"Sis', you can't just ask Aunt Lissa to favour you. She clearly assigned him to you on purpose."

Yeah, right on Niko. She did it to cause me a heart attack and make my life a living hell!

"I'll talk to her," I commented resolutely. The sofa was left behind as I stood and began striding to the door.

"What!" they exclaimed in unison. It was so sweet when they did that, it reminded me that no matter how different their characters were they still shared the same origins and twin synchronicity.

Both Sonja and Niko stared at me as if I was losing my mind, like I'd grown a second head. Their expressions were priceless. Normally I would calm Sonja down and be completely against asking such a favour of Lissa- she was my Moroi after all. But this was far from a normal situation. It was going to all be revealed that another dhampir- a guardian, my friend's then-guardian and my mentor, no less- was the one to get me pregnant. Nothing would ever be the same and I wasn't ready for it, wasn't ready for the truth to come out.

"You heard me," I repeated and restarted my too-long walk to the door. "I'll talk to her and have Belikov removed as Sonja's mentor."

I more or less sprinted to Lissa's office. I was going to insist I couldn't have Dimitri here, that I didn't want him here. It would ruin everything if it hadn't already. I didn't want him near my kids; he'd shattered my trust in him, so I refused to let that happen to Sonja and Niko. I asked them every year if they wanted to know or know about their father and they never did. He meant nothing to them because he had never been there for them. I was incredibly thankful for it. I don't know if I'd be able to recount how they came about without letting on just how deeply his actions had cut me. I mean, he'd left me _pregnant_! And I suspected it was because he wanted a family. Though there still was a part of me that reared its ugly head that made me feel a pang of guilt for keeping them away from him. I mean, they couldn't exist without his 'help'. But I was selfish by nature when it came to my children. All my life I'd sacrificed everything for Lissa and I had thought Dimitri would be the exception. In the end, my kids had become that exception. He'd left without a word. Literally. And I couldn't find it in me to forgive him for it. One night he'd been in my room. The next morning he'd snuck out early as usual, but hadn't turned up for training. I don't owe him anything after that. I especially don't owe him the privilege of knowing he's a parent.

My thoughts had put me in such a haze that I didn't see I was about to bump into someone until I hit a hard chest. I recognised- all too easily- who I had collided with outside Lissa's office. I didn't have to look. He smelled the same. And, oh god, he _felt_ the same! It was too much. It was Dimitri. He reached out to steady me before I fell on my hip. I flashed back to another time or two when he'd saved me from a similar fall. _Why did he have to make me so damn clumsy!_ My stomach clenched; I didn't have the energy to deal with this right now. His touch still made me experience things no man should ever make a woman feel, especially when he'd been the one who had left!

"Roza..."

I closed my eyes, willing my tornado of swirling and confusing emotions to go hide in the corner of my mind I'd created over a decade ago. It was to no avail. His voice flowed through my essence regardless. God, I'd missed it more than I had ever realised. His accent was imprinted on my soul. The connection was still there, strong as ever, as his touch and presence burned my skin and radiated through to the deepest part of my very being. _He shouldn't be able to do that!_ It wasn't fair that he could do that to me, after all these years and the shit way he abandoned me to raise, all on my own, the twins he'd given me. It should be illegal for him to do that to me after all these years of silence. Through the years I had been so sure I no longer loved him. But if he could set me aflame within a second, with one touch, and with one word, then _who was I kidding?_ Because I certainly wasn't fooling me.

"Guardian belikov," I nodded.

Professional and steady voice, just barely. Regardless, I could see the hurt in his eyes. _How dare he have the audacity to be hurt!_ He couldn't possibly think that I'd be waiting around for him, that I'd be willing to immediately return to first name basis. Sorry, but of course I wouldn't. Guardian life at least would have kept me busy, let alone the twins.

My speech abilities disappeared when my mind replayed what happened a second ago. It made the barely re-contained emotions burst out again and once more pulse through my veins. _How can he keep doing this to me?_ My head spun and I felt as though I could faint any second now from being so overwhelmed, but being the stubborn Rose Hathaway I am, I refused to faint. He _**had**_ to go. I would surely suffocate or have a heart attack if he stayed another moment longer.

"Oh, I thought I heard voices out here," commented an oblivious Lissa while she emerged from her office, _With. A. Smile!_

My best friend didn't pick up on the tension between me and the man mere inches away from me. _Was there even a full foot distance between us?_ How lucky was I? My best friend couldn't pick up on the signals screaming at her there was something going on- or rather, frustration due to resisting the tension so something _didn't_ go on. Who was I fooling? There will always be something going on between me and that... I don't think there's a strong enough word for it. Much as I hated to listen to the yelling of my soul seeking his.

"Well don't just stand there, come on in." Lissa let out a soft laugh and returned to her paper-covered desk. Dimitri and I shouldn't be in the same country together, let alone the same _room_! "Has she told you yet, Rose?" Lissa continued. "Guardian Belikov is Sonja's new mentor," she cheered. Oh, she was painfully oblivious and I was ready to smack her for it. A stolen glance at Dimitri resulted in nothing but a clueless, blank guardian mask.

"I want to talk about that-"

She cut me off. "Oh, you don't have to say thanks-"

Now it was my turn to cut her off. "Sonja's not thankful!"

Lissa continued on, completely ignoring my comment. "Meron would have left anyway and I knew you would be happy with Guardian Belikov as his replacement."

"She's not happy!" I exclaimed and threw my hands up in exasperation. At the same time, I tried to ignore the second meaning of her words. ' _You would be happy with Guardian Belikov..._ ' Yeah, sure. I peeked at him again. I wasn't the only one Lissa's words had touched. I think my own words had hit him harder than he was letting on, though.

I had to talk to her. _ALONE_. She _had_ to learn the truth. She would be pissed, then again, everyone would be pissed if- and inevitably _when_ , if he stayed too much longer- they too knew.

"Liss, I need to talk to you a sec."

"I can't right now, sorry, Rose, tonnes of paperwork. But hey, I'll have everyone over for dinner- you and the kids, too-" I noticed Dimitri's jaw set at that. _Irrationally jealous much?_ "You know," she continued rambling excitedly, still as oblivious as ever, "something like a welcome home for Tasha and-"

"Tasha's here?" I asked sharply, looking pointedly at Dimitri. I was oozing irritability and jealousy, and Lissa still couldn't detect it. All she heard was a pointless and irrational anger. And she wasn't happy with me for it.

Dimitri, just like his son, calmly replied. "I'm still her guardian, Rose."

Of course he was. Of course he bleedin' was still her guardian! What did I think? That he'd suddenly abandon another woman to come running to me, the one he clearly lied to since he went off to have a family with a woman he supposedly had no deep feelings for. _Well, news flash, Guardian Belikov, you've got kids with the teen student of yours you disappeared on, the one you left pregnant!_

Where Tasha went, Dimitri followed, and where Dimitri went, she followed. How romantic...

Here I was, the one with his kids and yet he was back to, more-or-less, rub it in my face that he was _with_ his charge. I couldn't deal with the thought their children would be both cousins and half-siblings with ours.

"That's just plain wrong," I muttered under my breath, trying to settle my inner turmoil. _How could one man destroy my life so completely?_ "So wrong."

Lissa and Dimitri had heard, unfortunately, because they were suddenly looking at me as if I'd gone insane. Just like Dimitri's twins he didn't know about had looked at me before I'd stormed over here. I'd been furious. Now I was just exhausted as I sighed and pulled on my hair.

"I'll see you later, Liss."

I stood and left. Of course her bookwork was more important than her childhood friend. I was only her lowly guardian. I didn't get a say in who trained my kids. _Why did I think I would?_

I had barely taken two steps away from that horrid meeting when I felt him following me. If he was back to rub being with Tasha in my face and break my heart all over again he sure was acting too like a stalker.

His silent following act soon began to cramp my style. I couldn't handle all the emotions swimming and whirling around in my stomach and chest, unsettling the former and tightening the latter.

I spun on him. "What!" I demanded, I didn't bother to conceal my emotions. I hardly ever showed my emotions anymore, but I didn't have the energy or the ability to do it right now, anyway.

He looked taken aback for just the most briefest part of a second. "I just..." he let out a sigh, much like I had earlier. I was tired of his crap and of his presence in general and just wanted him to get it over with. "Your daughter is amazing, so gifted. She reminds me of you so completely I had to wonder if I had been thrown back in time."

"I wish you had been!" I spat. Now his shock and confusion was so evident it surprised me. It shouldn't have, he'd had the luxury of being unguarded and relaxed around his charge and everyone for the past 17 years.

I had really wanted to screech that _**our**_ daughter was amazing. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind and scream at him that he had missed the chance of knowing her because he was a pig-headed, lying, heart-breaking, baby-abandoning _coward_.

"Wh-what?"

"What, _what_ , Belikov?" I answered cooly.

"Why don't you want me around her? Why doesn't she want me to be her mentor?"

I glared at him. He didn't falter under it. He damn-well never had and it still only served to piss me off more. I couldn't help but note how the way the twins reacted to each other was almost identical to the way Dimitri and I did. "Because you're still the same jailor as before, because I just _don't_! I don't want you in a _million mile radius_ of my twins and you have _no business_ knowing why! That it?" I demanded with my hands on my hip and I attempted to raise a single brow.

I still couldn't do it and it infuriated me that both twins had inherited his knack for the cool trick. No one can be perfect but our kids came too damn close with him as their father and me as their mother.

"I just... I want to ask if I could ask-"

"Spit it out." I couldn't handle seeing his nervous and embarrassed expression, the one that alerted me to the fact that the up coming question was the one I dreaded ever hearing from him.

"May I ask who her father is...?"

His brown eyes were staring at me so intently, searching so deeply in my eyes I wanted to squirm under the feeling of him reading my soul. He wouldn't work it out. _Would he?_ It was supposed to be impossible, so he couldn't possibly deduce he had kids with me... _Could he?_ I didn't want to hang around to find out. He didn't have the right to look at me like that, search my soul like that, to ask that question like that. Okay, maybe he had the right- they were his twins too, hard as I may try I can't forget or ignore that fact- but he didn't deserve me _acknowledging_ that right. He doesn't deserve to know his son is him all over again, that his daughter is as fearless and troublesome as her mother. He didn't deserve to know that Niko was only a little over 4 minutes older than his uncooperative student of a daughter.

"No you may not." I glared once more and sharply turned on my heel, turning my back on the father of my twins and walking away from him, much like he had done to me 17 years ago.


	3. Chapter 3: A BIG, HAPPY FAMILY

As I walked back home, I couldn't help but wonder about Dimitri. He was still a god. He just _had_ to be one of those men that became more breathtaking with time. The George Clooney and Richard Gere type. Life was never fair. I mean, it's not like I could complain, but still! I was 34 and Adrian always rightly said I was like a fine wine; I got better with age.

The big question was: _what next?_ I was surprised Sonja hadn't noticed how her brother mirrored her mentor in every possible way. She had likely been preoccupied with making a scene and refusing to work with his methods. She really had to hurry up and learn some control.

"Did you ask her?" Sonja rushed out hopefully the moment I opened the door. I don't blame her for her desire to get him out of the picture. _But we're stuck with him around indefinitely, such was our luck._

"She didn't have time," I apologised, "but we are going to theirs for dinner."

Her face fell and I had never hated Lissa and Dimitri more. They were the reason my daughter looked crestfallen. Call me overprotective or whatever, but _Niko and Sonja were my unique babies!_

"Course," Niko chuckled. As his voice had dropped his chuckle and laugh had morphed from a child's to become a replica of Dimitri's. "I just hope Uncle Chris doesn't let Aunt Lissa near the kitchen."

I laughed with him. The last time Lissa had tried to aid Christian in the kitchen she had nearly burned down the house.

I never thought the time would come where I was thankful for Christian. But it has. He's always been so close to the twins he's been their father-figure, more-or-less.

I sobered before mentioning the one piece of info that would have Sonja seething and Niko over-the-moon excited. "Guardian Belikov will be there." Best they have the head's up. It was going to be awkward enough. Even more so when things fell into place and realisations hit everyone and the skeletons revealed themselves in the form of Niko practically being Dimitri's time-capsule and reflection. My worst fears were going to become reality tonight, I was so certain about that I wanted to cry and scream and hit something... well, a certain _someone_ was more like it.

Their reaction was exactly as I had expected.

"Awesome," Sonja growled while Niko cheered excitedly.

"I want you both to behave." I stared my daughter down pointedly then collapsed on the sofa between them. "I love you both, so _please_ behave tonight." I turned to Sonja, "I know how hard this will be for you, so try to be like your brother _just this once_." I was pretty sure it fell on deaf ears.

It was going to be one hellishly long and painful night without her making a spectacle of herself. Though, I was undoubtedly certain my breath was wasted and I was getting my hopes up unnecessarily. She was _my_ daughter after all.

"Why is it always _me_ everyone's eyes narrow at when they say that?"

 _See what I was saying?_

" _Maybe_ because _you're_ the one who _doesn't_ know how to _behave_?" Niko sighed and shook his head in a mix of amusement and frustration. He'd lived with her being this way since they'd been conceived. Never before had I so desperately wished Sonja would for once have Dimitri's genes raise their head. It would be a blessing tonight.

We walked straight in their door when we arrived later that night. We always had. Her home was ours and ours was hers.

I heard her voice coming from the living room and it matched the excitement she felt. She didn't suspect that her brilliant idea was probably going to end up a disaster. It was the worst possible event in my mind. _But what could I do? I was only a dhampir, when push comes to shove, so I had no say._

"Hey! I'm so glad you came!" Lissa grinned as we entered their spacious yet cosy living room.

Dimitri sat next Tasha on the sofa- _of course_ , I thought bitterly. His eyes widened at the sight of Niko. _How could they not?_ It would be like looking at himself when he was 16. My eyes went to the twins. They found shocked expressions. _It's official. They all know and I'm so dead._

Dimitri'sPOV

I felt my eyes bug when Rose entered with her daughter, Sonja, and a boy who looked so like me I was nearly convinced he was. Who he actually was, was my _son_. It was undeniable, _absolutely undeniable._ From the hair color and length, to his height, to the way he held himself; from his face shape, to the shade of brown of his eyes, to his expression; it made Niko Hathaway undeniably _mine_. And that meant... Sonja Hathaway was also mine. She had my brown eyes and height, but otherwise, she was Rose all over again.

Niko, Sonja, and I continued to stare at each other. Sonja's gaze broke away when she said something snarky to Tasha. _Oh god._ It was right here, everything I had ever wanted was literally staring me in the face. I had children with Rose. It was impossible, but Niko was living proof. I just didn't know how to stomach it. It would be easier if they _didn't_ so obviously have Belikov blood in them. A traitorous part of me- one I very much so wanted to listen to- hoped this was all a terrible, punishing nightmare, because none of this felt real. _It couldn't be real!_ It went against every rule in our universe if this was real.

RPOV

"Rose, I'm so glad to see you again!" Wish I could return the sentiment... but then again... "It's been too long," she continued. If she didn't shut up soon... Tasha stood and pulled me into a hug. Awkwardly and forcibly, I hugged her back.

"Really? Time seems to fly for me."

It was true. Since the pregnancy revelation it had just been one thing after another, change, change, and change again. One day I'm barely pregnant, the next the morning sickness is gone and I'm naming them, the next I'm in labour with the twins, and the following they're nearly adults.

"You must be Rose's children," she smiled at the twins.

The twins, I noticed, wore expressions that told me they were suspicious of her. And planning something because of it. _Oh no. I so don't need Tasha being a reason they play up tonight!_ It was bad enough I was going to cop it from at least three people about keeping the twins father's identity so secret.

"And you must be a genius to have figured that out so quickly!" Sonja forced the excitement into her voice.

I wanted to smile at her for that. That's one thing I'll let her get away with tonight. I mean, she just learned her and Niko's father was another dhampir. Who happens to be with another woman. _Yeah. I can understand them being overwhelmed and pissed off._

"Sonja!" Lissa snapped at her.

My friend's eyes widened with shock at Sonja's blatant show of disrespect and being rude to a guest's face.

If there really was a god, now would be a perfect time for an intervention, because I really _don't_ deserve this. I don't have the energy for it either. My pleas were heard.

"Good evening everyone," Adrian called as he strode into Lissa's place just like my little family had.

"Adri!" Sonja squealed and threw herself at him; she hugged him to the point he nearly choked.

In contrast, Niko disliked Adrian as much as Sonja loved him. Sonja adored Adrian just as much as Adrian favoured Sonja; he treated her like a Princess and she treated him like a godsend. He spoiled her in a way I never would, but I didn't have it in me to ask him to stop. Niko would be spoiled as much, but Niko had never gotten along with him. I swear my son was born with his father's distaste for Adrian. As much as it infuriated me, I had learned to live with it.

"Hey Smurfette, I missed you too." Adrian laughed when she loosened her grip. He hugged her back. "Did you miss me too, Little Dhampir?"

"Of course, I didn't sleep for weeks. _Wait!_ Hold on a minute, I forgot something... That's right, it was because you kept dream stalking me each night!"

"Only because I know you can't live without me." He winked at me and kissed my forehead.

"You wish," I retorted.

"Sorry, how rude am I?" he said to the others. "I was so caught up in this little family reunion of ours." He smirked at those on the sofas. Focusing mainly on Dimitri. "Tasha, cradle robber-"

"Adrian!" I reprimanded too late.

"Sorry, I mean, Guardian Belikov, it's so nice to see you again. What gave us the honour of you gracing us with your presence, where the birds don't fly?"

I nearly burst out in fits of laughter. He was in _The Mood_ again. This was going to lighten dinner and make things more interesting.

In Dimitri's eyes I saw the anger that accompanied the proverbial turning wheels. _What was that grade A a-hole and sad excuse of a man thinking?_

"Dinner is re..." Christian trailed of and froze in place when he noticed the twins and Dimitri were in one room.

Christian had to be thinking someone bended time with Niko looking exactly like Dimitri's younger self. Gobsmacked and mind-blown, Christian's eyes kept shifting from Niko to Dimitri, back to Niko, back to Dimitri, then to Sonja, and back to Dimitri again. Yeah, my head would be swimming if I'd just learned the impossible had happened... between mentor and student no less.

"Finally. I'm starving!" I made my way to the dining room, not waiting for Christian to regain his speech capabilities.

Dinner went well. If you can define 'well' as meaning nobody hit anybody and nobody shouted the obvious at Dimitri and me. It was a miracle. That didn't mean glares weren't exchanged at certain points. They certainly were. Sonja nearly had a glare being directed at her father all night. Niko studied him cautiously and closely throughout the entire meal... and then some. Dimitri practically had his eyes trained on all three of us... when he wasn't avoiding his son's studious gaze, that is. When he did look between my close-knit family of three his expression was one I couldn't- for the life of me- decipher. Adrian was uncharacteristically silent. Especially considering he was in _The Mood_. Though he did switch between sending Dimitri disapproving and disappointed looks and sending me supportive and flirty smiles. Christian sat there all dinner, barely saying a word. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost- that's saying something coming from me, because I _know_ how confronting it is to actually see and interact with ghosts. Especially for the first time and being completely clueless as to what was going on. Tasha and Lissa were the only ones to chat at all and their banter made up for the silence from the rest of us.

 _Honestly, how could they be so oblivious? It was Staring Them. In. Their. Face!_

And as for me? I was hoping against all hope that time would speed up and get this dinner 'party' over with.

DPOV

 _I was in a nightmare._ It was the only explanation. Because surely- _surely_ \- I would have _felt_ if I'd been missing out on nearly two decades of my children's lives. I had to be in a nightmare, because I should have known, _instinctively_ _known_ , that I had kids with Rose. As their father, I should have suspected their existence because they would be the only reason Rose would _ever_ let her personal emotions get in the way of her duty. I felt like a horrible father, and an even weaker man... _Provided this wasn't a nightmare_.

Sonja had her face permanently creating a glare all through dinner. Niko, her clearly fraternal twin, was silently and warily studying me so powerfully I couldn't help but think he had the gift to see every part of me, my present and my past. A similar vibe emanated from Sonja's glare. The thought of them unlocking me was terrifying. _Absolutely, utterly and completely_ _ **terrifying**_ _!_

It was all so overwhelming and mind-blowing I wanted nothing more than to be numb. I wanted to wake up from this nightmare of punishing wishful thinking because there was only one man who could've created the twins with Rose. _Adrian Ivashkov_. I had never detested nor despised him as I did presently. I had never been so jealous and envious of the royal playboy more than I was now; he sat with Rose on one side and Sonja- who worshipped and loved him so clearly it felt like a stab in the back- sitting on his other side. Niko sat beside his sister and I got the vibe from him that he too disliked Adrian. Especially the flirting he was _still_ subjecting Rose to.

Rose was sitting on the edge of her seat, clearly eager to escape and drag Sonja and Niko away with her. Unfortunately, I suspected they would only too happily oblige and follow her out. _Again, this had to be a nightmare, because surely-_ _ **surely**_ _\- the screaming should have started by now!_

Rose soon enough jumped at the chance to clear the table. I followed her into the kitchen, dying to escape the tension Tasha and Lissa were oblivious to. And my heart was pounding with my raw, razor-sharp nerves compelling me to find out if this was a nightmare I would wake up from, or one that was forever dooming and overshadowing my new reality. _Was this pain, guilt, and uncertainty about this impossible potential possibility of Rose having my now-nearly-adult children the constant barrage of emotions and thoughts I was going to have to live with?_ Would I now forever be doing double takes every time I saw Sonja and Niko?

When I stepped into the kitchen Rose had the kettle boiling and was rinsing the dishes before stacking them in the dishwasher. _Did she not know how sexy it was to see such a lethal guardian with such lethal exotic beauty being so domestic?_ It wasn't fair what she could do to me.

"So... Lord Ivashkov?" My voice made her jump and drop a carving knife. She sliced her hand in the process of grabbing it. I couldn't stop myself; I rushed to her side, grabbed the nearest tea towel, wrapped it around the palm of her hand, and lifted her up on the prep bench via her waist.

" _What_ about Adrian?" Her irritation and exhaustion was evident in her response while I found the first aid kit every kitchen should have.

I slowly removed the tea towel and started cleaning. I couldn't stop the flashbacks to the number of times we'd done this in the gym; how we had let the burning, buzzing, being-completed sensation flow between us through the simple, innocent enough touch; how we had let ourselves revel in the guilty pleasure of prolonging the task with heart-felt conversations.

"He's their father." I wanted her to argue it or confirm it. _Either way she was condemning me to hell!_ Instead of an immediate response I received silence. My eyes lifted from her wounded hand to her widened eyes. "Roza?"

Something warm and wonderful and all consuming shot between us when she shivered.

I forgot her hand... I forgot absolutely _everything_ as I got lost in those brown orbs that had haunted me from the second I had stepped towards my way out of this very Academy. I got so carried away absorbing every way her face had matured I memorized every tiny detail and I still couldn't tear my eyes away from her. My eyes went to her hair after learning how her plump, soft, gorgeously, kissably, naturally pale pink and silky lips ended and were linked to her just as silky locks by a defined shaping of her cheek. _Oh, that hair!_ It was the bane of my existence. It was still long- as in, the tips of the curls brushed the bench- and was begging me to reach out and worship it once more. It was still just as majestically and entrancingly dark brown, nearly black... the perfect shade to match all of her other even more goddess-like and angelic features.

 _Oh sweet Roza... What have I done?_

I don't know how it happened, but our lips touched. I was luxuriating in heaven while simultaneously burning in hell. Rose's legs wrapped around my waist and her right hand scrunched up and tugged on the front of my shirt as she demanded a deeper kiss. My tongue traced her luscious and deliciously soft lips. They parted. I had to pull her closer with my right arm tightening around her waist while my left went to the bench to keep myself upright.

 _How had I gone a half a second without the taste of her, the feel of her, the smell of her!_ I was undoubtedly addicted. Rosemarie Hathaway was my vice and I had been abstaining and in denial for 17 years, which was seventeen years and a day and a half far too long. She tightened her hold on me as our tongues fought. I had her tiring before me. She allowed me to explore and relearn the grooves and valleys of her expansive, intricately and perfectly created mouth and razor-sharp tongue, the mouth and tongue that sang the words of an angel even when inflicting pain only the devil should be capable of. Roza moaned into my mouth when her right hand wound in my hair.

The spell was broken and we were left panting when her flinch caused her to pull away. _What the_ _ **hell**_ _had we just_ _ **done**_ _!_ I tried to gather and bring order my thoughts while I cleaned and bandaged her hand, but it was to no avail. The contact and her presence were just as good at scrambling my sensibilities into an un-organizable mess and destroyed any and every shred of my control.

"Thanks. And by the way, the twins have every feature of Adrian present because he's _undeniably_ their father," she spat, glared, and returned to the table.

I couldn't figure out if she had been sarcastic and defensive, or if she had just used me. Was she saying the twins were that playboy's? Or was she trying to say that I wasn't hallucinating, and this nightmare of missing out on a total of 32 years of _**my**_ children's lives- between them- and another 17 years of hers was my new reality? She was twice the age she had been when I'd first met her and fallen in love with her and she was _still_ just as _infuriating_ , and as elusive as ever.

RPOV

"Are you alright?" asked Adrian when I returned to the table. Tasha and Lissa seemed to not have even noticed Dimitri and I left the table.

"Perfectly peachy," I growled. "The twins look exactly like you, apparently, just so you're aware."

Dimitri returned to his seat opposite mine. His expression was unreadable, though his lips were still swollen and I could tell where I had rumpled his shirt. It took all I had not to blush at the sight and thought of what I could do to him.

"I didn't know you had just cheated on me."

I glared at him pointedly and furiously. I was _not_ in the mood... My almost everything was screaming for the fool sitting in front of me. And it wasn't an easy thing to come to grips with.

"Okay, okay! You just cheated on the father of your children with their dad."

"Shut! Up!" I growled. "Nothing happened."

"Of course. Because nothing ever happened between you and that cradle robber so there's no flames to re-light and no children to consider being caught and burned in the cross-fire."

"Adrian, have you heard Guardian Belikov is Sonja's mentor?" Lissa interrupted. She still hadn't realised how awkward everyone else was, let alone recognise a sexual tension was now pulsing between me and Dimitri.

"Really? How interesting..." he raised his glass, "here's to hoping he isn't a cradle robber again, this time to someone young enough to _be HIS_ _ **daughter**_."

Lissa and Tasha ignored him. I glared at him once again and kicked his shin under the table.

"I knew how much Rose had missed him after he left and thought he'd be just as great a mentor for Sonja too."

 _If she kept being this blind I would have her turned into a bat._

Sonja pierced Dimitri's eyes with her own version of them. They shone with a dangerous and ominous glint. _I just_ _ **knew**_ _nothing good could've come from this night!_ "You were Mom's mentor?" she asked far too calmly.

Dimitri moved his gaze so his eyes saw into my very essence. He nodded with an ever so barely distinguishable smile. "Yes," he answered with a secretive wink. _I swear the sexual tension between us became_ _ **suffocatingly**_ _**palpable**_ _!_

"What- what did you say? How long have been Tasha's guardian?"

One millisecond glance at the twins told me the cover was completely busted wide-open. _They both had his brains so I was so damn screwed. They knew. They now knew it all._ My cover of my student-teacher affair with Dimitri had just been shredded by our daughter, and her older twin brother. They knew they came from an illegal and immoral relationship.

"Almost 17 years," Tasha beamed.

"I said yes, I was your mother's mentor," Dimitri repeated with eyes still locked with mine. This time he wore a full smile, one that radiated pride and happy memories and so much more. "By far the best student and guardian I know."

"I had a brilliant teacher," I blurted with a matching smile and felt my blush.

Sonja looked sick. "I need some air."

"Sonja!" Lissa called after her. _How was anyone_ _ **that**_ _oblivious?_

"Let her go, Lissa," Tasha waved. "Dimka already warned me she has a temper much like her mother's." Not only had her attempt at cooling everyone down been approached the wrong way it had only served to rub Niko, Dimitri, and me the wrong way. She had done herself no favors.

She had stated her comment as if a short temper was some genetic, inheritable defect. She said it as if to belittle and degrade us. _And where's those children of Dimitri's you wanted? Huh, Tasha?_ At least _**someone**_ managed to have his kids. My right hand curled into a fist, ready to punch her to a warmer place, while my injured left twitched with the desire to bitch-slap her.

The ever-in-control-like-his-father and calm son of mine stood and glared at Tasha. Never had he _glared_ before- it just wasn't in his nature. "You know what? Sonja and Mom have an attitude, but at least they're both ready and willing to sacrifice their life in a split second and without hesitation; for _any_ Moroi, not only _just_ their charge or friends." His glare hardened when he faced down his father. "And they take responsibility for their actions." My son softened when he looked at me with a myriad of emotions playing in his eyes. "I'll go after her." His hands were shaking as he hurried out of the house in search of his baby sister.


	4. Chapter 4: TALK

RPOV

After the twins abruptly left, our dinner visit fizzled out. I might not agree with their- *cough* Sonja's *cough*- behaviour and was, I'll admit, slightly embarrassed. That's shocked and pissed teens for you. But I did feel pride in them not taking shit from anyone and Niko once again standing up for his sister- and even me despite me being the cause of their shock and anger.

I quickly excused myself and bolted after them. They had too many genetic advantages and outran me. I knew home was always the first place to check, and this time was no different and I threw the door open.

"Niko! Sonja!"

I went straight to the left hallway, bound for Sonja's room. I was beginning to wonder if it would have been better if I had just told the twins who their father was. Possibly would've saved me from all this drama. Sonja wasn't there. After a quick check of Niko's room- where he wasn't- I checked the next place they went to talk out or reflect on what had upset them. The loft. I found its door locked.

"Niko!" I pounded on the door. "Just open the door! Please?" I pounded harder. Still no response. A fire ran through my veins, it swirled and flared and killed and reignited my hope for some much needed mercy from the two most important people in my life. My children. "We need to talk about it."

Nothing. Nothing but a small shuffling that alerted me to the fact they were safe and alive, even if they were so furious they refused to speak to the woman who safely brought them into this often-all-too-harsh world. To top it off, she was coming closer, with her bringing yet another and an entirely different tornado of emotions, opinions, and reactions. _Lissa._ A state of emergency would _have_ to be called because there was _no way_ this house could survive the combination and clash of three category five tornados of confusing emotions. One of those tornados being mine. Today, I was apparently a magnet for these awkward and potentially life changing conversations. They swarmed me just as moths gathered around and pressured a flame.

Frustrated and exhausted, I went to the kitchen, I don't know what I intended to get, but Hurricane Lissa came storming through my front door before I could decide.

"Rose!" she screamed.

"Kitchen." The house wasn't much bigger than the cabin that started this whole mess, so she didn't really need to yell. She'd find me just as quickly if she hadn't yelled.

Not that I couldn't already feel it through the bond, but her face gave away her fury and confusion. Sweet, innocent, _Blind_ Lissa. It was close to impossible to get her this worked up when the darkness wasn't adding to her instability. _Time to face the music..._

"Care to explain what that was all about? Adrian's refusing to speak. Christian's acting like his puppy was killed. Tasha's just lost and shocked. And as for Dimitri... _I don't even know_ , he's a mix of angry, wounded, and desperate. I swear, if you don't-" She was a mess of nerves, confusion, and anger. Sonja and Niko had embarrassed her, apparently and she was disappointed in them... and me.

"Lissa: _Breathe!_ Let's sit and I'll tell you everything."

I should've told her earlier, but I had the twins to protect... and Dimitri, even though he'd hurt me so badly- I would never let him be fired, let alone jailed. He was the father of the only two pure dhampirs in history. _And still owned my heart,_ I reluctantly had to admit to myself. The thought came _unbidden_ and _**unwelcome**_.

She sat at the kitchen/dining room table, despite being on the verge of a complete breakdown. I put the kettle on and joined her. Hope swam in me; hope that she wouldn't be mad at me, that she'd _try_ to be understanding, that I wasn't getting my hopes up.

"Tell me," she demanded.

"ThetwinsareBelikovs," I rushed out. If I didn't confess it straight up I would be knocked unconscious by Hurricane Lissa.

"Come again?" she asked, stupefied.

"Dimitri fathered the twins- they're Nikolai Hathaway-Belikov and Sonja Hathaway-Belikov... technically."

"What do you mean, _Technically_! They either _are_ or they _aren't_! And how did you _'forget'_ to tell me your _mentor_ ," she spat his old role out at me in disgust, "knocked you up!"

"You think he took advantage of me!" Sometimes I wondered, but a part of me didn't believe he'd lied about loving me, that I just told myself that to build a wall up- one he could too-easily knock down. Not that I was going to let her believe that- not when I didn't fully believe it. "I wanted it. God, I wanted him. I love him, Liss!" _Oh god, did I love him. Even after all this time, after all he'd done to me, I still loved him. And_ _ **damn him to hell**_ _for making me feel that way!_ I didn't want to know that, I didn't want to acknowledge it, and I damn-well didn't want to feel it. I didn't want my heart putting itself back on the line. "He's my everything. He always has been. He didn't force me!"

"Then why didn't you tell me!" Betrayal, confusion, anger all washed through her... a tiny part of her was happy and excited for me, for him, for the twins. She just couldn't tell she was feeling that way. I didn't want her to feel that joyous; this was not a situation that would have a happy ending.

"I couldn't tell anyone. Especially after finding out I was pregnant. It's not that I didn't trust you, it's that I didn't trust the walls with ears that reside in Court and the Academy. Besides, it didn't matter after he left."

Lissa's teary eyes bugged. " _ **Didn't matter!**_ " she screeched, " _Of course_ it mattered! Not only did you keep _him_ from the twins, not only did you deny them a father, you let him get away with not taking responsibility for his children! He should have known! He should have been there to pick up the slack, to give you time out when we couldn't take them off your hands."

"He chose _her_ for kids, a family!" I exclaimed. I was cut off.

"He already _has one_! _With!_ _ **YOU!**_ And _you_ denied him."

I literally pulled my hair. I refused to wince when my sliced hand complained. "He doesn't deserve them," I whispered. "I'm outta here- keep an eye on them."

"Did Adrian know?" All his comments about Dimitri and matching cold attitude towards the unsuspecting father in question fell into place.

I nodded. "Auras and eavesdropping and stuff. I didn't tell him, he figured it out."

I said too much. "Go!" commanded a sobbing Lissa. "I'll stay, but _go_!" I didn't need to be told twice when my kids wouldn't talk to me, when Lissa was furious and heartbroken, when Dimitri suspected Adrian was the father.

I didn't realise where I was going until I stormed into guardian dorms and found my way to Dimitri's room. Which sadly enough was the same one as 17 years ago.

"Dimitri- _**effing**_ \- Belikov, open the hell _**UP**_!" I banged on his door until he opened up.

"Rose?" He cautiously let me in and shut the door after me. "What's going o-"

"Just... _shut up!_ Shut up and kiss me!" I cried, with true, hot tears stinging my eyes. "I need you!" _Now more than ever._ "Please!"

DPOV

 _How was I supposed to deny her? How was I_ _ **ever**_ _meant to deny her?_

With a mind of their own, my lips met hers. Her lips were flames of a fire our souls shared; they burned me when they licked at me. Everything melted away in that moment. I didn't have twins that hated my guts. I didn't have a nightmare coming true. I didn't have the energy to be mad at Rose- I especially didn't have it in me to be mad at her when she was already so obviously hurt to the point her strength and control had been sling-shotted out a window. She wasn't weak, just emotionally worn down and drained of energy and resilience.

I knew all this because she; a) had desperately banged down my door- coming to me for support- when she was furious with me, b) was clearly crying and radiating from her eyes and face that she'd reached her limits, and c) was pouring it into this needy, urgent, painfully desperate, heated kiss we were sharing. We kept kissing and moving until all of a sudden, we were on my bed and I was straddling her.

"Damn it, Dimitri! I can't do this. I can't keep this in any longer. They're _yours_! Niko and Sonja are yours and I still god-damn love you against all reason and logic!" Rose simultaneously looked anguished and relieved.

"I never stopped loving you, either," I whispered against her lips. "Doesn't mean I'm not mad at you for not telling me- or them. Because I so am it's not funny. I'm so mad at you right now I'm not."

Rose huffed. "Right. That just made a lot of sense, Dimitri."

I chuckled. "You're distracting me from the issue, woman," I growled when she sent me a smouldering look and pout.

" _Just_ , _shut up_ ," she ordered again.

I was shushed with a steamy kiss. It was so hot I was surprised a fire alarm didn't sound at how much heat and smoke we were letting off. God. 17 seconds away from her were hard, _how had I managed 17 years?_ That's right: _I. Hadn't._ Tasha could testify to my moments of moping. Though she'd never let off any sign of actually registering what _**hell**_ I was- just potentially very possibly- putting myself through. Let alone realise whose career I was attempting to protect by doing so.

"Roza..." She was about to send my shirt flying. I was mad and she was hurt. I wasn't going to sleep with her just because we had no control to consider a better way to work out our pent-up and explosive emotions. I had to be sure she wouldn't regret this. I had to know she was consenting coherently. If I didn't pause now I wasn't going to stop once she'd started ripping my clothes to shreds. I didn't want this to be another of her rash decisions.

Tears spilled again as she simply pulled me into a hug. "This is all too confusing!" she complained. "And it's all your fault." Despite her whinging she was cuddling into my side.

"My fault? Rose, you're the one who didn't contact me. You're the who left me out of their lives. You're the one who didn't tell Lissa, or Christian, or the kids. You're the one who overcomplicated this."

Rose flew out of my arms and jumped so far away from the bed so quickly she nearly hit her back against the door.

" _Me!_ You really want to _blame_ _ **ME**_ _!_ Belikov, _YOU'RE_ the one who _left_! **YOU'RE** the one who walked away in the middle of the night without a word! _YOU'RE_ the one who was in my _**bed**_ the night you vanished from my life! _YOU_ _ **KNEW**_ _!_ You _goddamn knew_ you were going to leave! You goddamn knew you were going to **HURT** **ME**! You _promised_!" Her outburst of anger turned into sobs once more. My heart clenched and my stomach turned at the result of my actions. "You promised me you wouldn't abandon me! You swore no Moroi life could come before mine. You _stole_ **everything** from me, Dimitri, _absolutely everything_." She ended whimpering so quietly I nearly didn't hear her. "I gave you my heart, soul, and innocence with absolute trust. You betrayed me. You lied to me. You _hurt_ me. I did what I had to to survive, to look after Niko and Sonja. You don't know how many complications there was even carrying them through the first two trimesters just because I couldn't afford to not graduate."

I shot out of the bed and pinned her against the door with her wrists above her head. "Don't tell me what I did or didn't do that night!" I growled with my face not even an inch from hers. "Don't try guilt-tripping me. If you'd told me, I would've been back and I would've had you graduated the very next day. If you told me, I would have happily taken you on the run, because I _know_ you don't want this life for them. You don't want _our_ kids to put their lives on the line every day for someone who doesn't appreciate it, who doesn't understand the sacrifices we make."

She shot me an indignant look. Of course a protest was coming. Of course 17 years wasn't going to change things. She was Rose Hathaway after all. "You can't know that for sure. And why would I want to guilt trip you? Besides, they're _**my**_ kids. Not _ours_. _**MINE.**_ You may have gotten me pregnant, but they're _MY_ kids because _**I**_ raised them!"

"Because you didn't _**let me**_!" How did she _always_ know how to push my buttons?

"I had NO REASON to! I couldn't know if you weren't going to up and suddenly disappear on them too!" She was furious and starting to struggle. I seriously felt as though we were back to our old roles of student and mentor, back to being 17 and 24 year olds.

"Rose! They. Are. My. _**FAMILY.**_ _**You**_ _are._ And don't you dare assume you know why I left!"

She couldn't have guessed if she tried. Everything I ever did was to protect her. This wasn't an exception.

"Let. Me. Go!" she ordered. Her brown eyes were aflame with a fire that I'd seen only once before and I was scared for her, again.

"No," I murmured desperately, "not until you calm down. I'm not letting you near anyone else- least of all our twins- until you've calmed down." I wasn't going to let her slide back down into that. _Never again._ My heart twisted and ached whenever I even _thought_ about her suffering the influence of darkness on her own.

I had never resented a charge or Moroi as much as I resented Lissa for making Rose- _**my**_ Roza- suffer that. Not to mention her blindness to the twins being mine. I mean, with the way she had stormed after Rose I knew she hadn't figured it out. In the 17 years she was exposed to them she hadn't once suspected. And Rose had to suffer knowing that through the bond.

"They're _**MY**_ twins!" The look in her eye darkened as she spoke.

"Roza, _please_! Don't slip into the darkness again! _Please_ ," I begged against her forehead. "For Niko and Sonja, please don't slip into the darkness." _I'm terrified you won't come back to us this time._

Slowly, far too slowly, she fought her way back. Every millisecond she risked falling back was absolute agony and sheer terror, my nerves were raw with the anticipation and fear, the same that made my heart pound against my ribs, desperate to escape and embrace her. She would never become the monster she had once tried to convince me she would. I had promised I would never let her, and I intended to keep _that_ promise. No matter what it took.

"Dimitri..." she gasped. I released my grip on her wrists and brought her into an innocent hug that conveyed nothing but love and support.

"It's over," I murmured into her hair.

"It's never over, Dimitri. And I hate how you can both infuriate me and save me."

"You saved yourself, Roza."

She shook her head into my chest.

After a few deep breaths she pulled out of my embrace. "I should go," she said reluctantly. Her eyes shimmered with tears. My heart broke at the sight.

"You don't have to." _I want to be here for you, no matter how mad I am at you._

"I have to- they aren't talking to me and I have to fix that. I can't have them blindly hating me. I have to explain it to them."

I pulled a hand through my hair and sighed. "You owe us all an explanation, Rose."

"I've already told you."

I chuckled without humour. "You yelled at me." Not that I didn't deserve it even though it wasn't my choice, but still. I wanted to hear her explain it calmly.

"You left in the middle of the night without a word and it hurt. I didn't want you coming back because you felt obligated. I _needed_ you to come back because you _wanted_ me. I couldn't stand the thought you'd hurt them just as much. I was trying to protect them. I did ask them, every year I asked them if they wanted to know. Every time it was a no."

"Roza..." I heard the agony in my voice. "I would have come back because I _wanted_ to. You have _no clue_ how _often_ I've _cried myself to sleep_ and hated myself because I couldn't give you kids. I've always wanted to have a family with you. You took that from me. You took their father from them. How was that protecting them? They needed me, Rose. Whether you liked it or not, whether they liked it or not, they needed me."

I have to admit, hearing about the twins rejection had cut, deeply at that. But they very well could simply have been trying to protect her, too. If they didn't ask for me back, if they didn't ask to know about me, then she didn't have to go through more pain. But Rose needed to realise our twins needed both parents, both role models. And now they knew, I couldn't be the role model I would have been if Rose had given me the chance, if she hadn't exposed them to a certain preconceived idea of who I was.

"They have Adrian and Christian." Rose glared at me. It still didn't scare me. She tended to do it in place of a pout or sticking her tongue out. ' _Cute_ ' was still the word to describe it.

"Don't pretend like Niko doesn't like Adrian because he's not me. Don't pretend like Niko doesn't like the way Adrian Still flirts with you because he knows it makes you uncomfortable when you want me. He might not act like it and he might not say as much, but he's in desperate need of his true father."

"Don't act all self-important! Don't act as though you know either of them-"

"He's me all over again, Rose. Of course I know him. He looks like me, he speaks like me, and he _behaves_ like me. So _of course I already know how he thinks_ \- just like me- and that's enough to know him."

I could just hear the way he calmly accused me of the truth ringing in my ears again. The truth I didn't know about until barely an hour ago. He stood for the same things I did. He might have grown up at the Academy with Rose mothering him, but he had inherited my moral code, my determination to do what's right, and to stand up for and protect those I love. I was actually a tad surprised he hadn't already tried to beat me up like I had Randall.

"You don't know them and you never will!" Rose turned away from me and opened the door. She slammed it in my face before I could react.

Like I'll never know them because Sonja isn't my new student. I'd at least know her to some extent. Even if it was just on the professional level.


	5. Chapter 5: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON

Niko'sPOV

It was genetically impossible, but it was the undeniable truth. Guardian Dimitri Belikov was our father. Our father was a respected and feared guardian. We LEARNED about him, for Christ's sake! He was in our textbooks, in our theory classes, in our campus legends. And he was one _shit-ass_ father who'd mentored my mother.

And had left her _pregnant_ while still a _student_! My parents- I wanted to spit the plural out with as much venom as was running through me- had had an affair, a Student-Teacher affair! And here Sonja and I were: the damning evidence. As my dead-beat, phantom father, I _despised_ the man and his cowardly actions, I _despised_ looking like his teenage doppelgänger. But as a guardian... I still looked up to him and a part of me was proud to inherit both his skill and my mother's, to look like the next campus god. Screw that! I _already was_ the next campus god, just as Sonja already carried on Mom's legend. A brutally traitorous part of me was incredibly, _vainly_ proud to look like his teenage clone.

But then again, he had done irreparable damage to both my mother and us twins. He didn't deserve my respect, or Sonja's. Yet, I couldn't completely go against the drilled-in respect for him my training had dictated I carry; the admiration I possessed for the guardian who had shaped my mother into the legendary guardian she is, for the guardian whose exploits against the Strigoi with his student had been written into the history books, included in our curriculum. On the professional level, he was the perfect example. On the personal, however... he was just an absolute ass and the farthest thing from the perfect role model.

Why did _they_ have to make this so damn hard! Mom wasn't an innocent in this secret, this deception. We- especially I- had denied wanting to know and know about my father because he had hurt Mom and I didn't want her in more pain. Little did I know Mom herself was partly the reason for her pain. _SHE_ , had hidden this. _SHE_ , had kept this to herself. _SHE_ , had let him escape punishment, responsibility, and consequences for his actions. _SHE_ , had left us without a father. All because _SHE_ let _Tasha Ozera_ steal him! Because _SHE_ didn't fight for him, his return to the harsh reality. _SHE_ , let him live in ignorance- let _**US**_ live in ignorance.

Don't get me started on her, on Tasha. Tasha Ozera was far too sweet for her own good. Tasha Ozera was far too flirty with and possessive of our father. Tasha Ozera was far too jealous of our mother. Tasha Ozera was far too innocent to actually be as blind as she appeared. And Tasha Ozera was a name I didn't want to speak, a woman I never, EVER, want to be around again.

As mad as I was, it was at the situation they had created, not at them... well, not at my mother, at least. I may be mad at my father. No. Not MAYBE mad, I _**was**_ mad. I was as absolutely furious with him, just as furious as Sonja was with the whole universe. My sister was spitting expletives like chips and cursing the universe for betraying her.

"She's an absolute- Gah! There aren't words! And _him_! God! The Russian slave driving jailor and our _mother_! I just don't get how Mom _"forgets"_ to tell us we're purebreds!"

Sonja was fuming so passionately her Mom-take-2 face was bright red.

"She was scared," I reasoned. Though I couldn't say I didn't agree with Sonja's ranting. I understood her anger to a T. I just wasn't taking it out on the universe or my sibling.

My twin sent me an incredulous look. "You can't possibly be _siding_ with her?"

"I'm not. I'm just stating a fact."

"Why would she be scared?" _Sometimes she just made me want to pull my hair out._

"You know it hurt her to ask if we wanted to know. It's why we always said _no_."

Sonja handed me one of Mom's infamous glares.

"Think about it, Sonja. If you were Carrie and Carrie was my Moroi combat student and I slept with her then left, wouldn't you be scared? Wouldn't you be mad? Wouldn't _you_ take the drastic actions Mom did? I'm not saying she did the right thing or that I agree with it- I'm as mad as you are- I'm just saying I begrudgingly understand her logic."

Her glare didn't shift. "Are you calling me a _hypocrite_? _**You**_ wouldn't _leave_! You wouldn't knock up a Senior in the first place! You know what? I'm out of here- you're too much like _him_!" _Ouch!_ "You're just like him! You're just as frustratingly calm and reasonable, just as logical, just as Zen as _him_!"

Sonja just stood and stormed out the door. I heard her fly down the stairs and slam the front door.

She was just as dramatic as Mom, just as impulsive. I sighed when only moments later a knock sounded on the door.

"Hang on!" I called as I descended to open the front door.

My gene giver, phantom father stood there. _Oh, brilliant!_ What did _he_ want? He put Mom through hell. So _why_ was I going to be polite to him? _Because I was exactly like him and polite to everyone._ It was something I just couldn't help. I didn't have it in me to be rude... well, too rude. Much as I wanted to scream at him to rot in hell for betraying Mom, and me and Sonja.

"Is your Mom here?" His brown eyes- _our_ brown eyes; his, mine, _and_ Sonja's- stared at me calmly, neutrally. My own calm was out the window. He wore the same mask I should've been wearing. Yet my anger at him locked up my jaw and made my fists clench and shake. What I wouldn't give to _deck_ the dude. Not like I'd get a hit on him anyway. His eyes traveled down to my shaking fists. "I'd like to see you try, Nikolai." _Was there a hint of_ _ **sarcasm**_ _in the old man's voice? Was I deluding myself, or was there a hint of_ _ **amusement**_ _present too?_

"Oh, wouldn't I love to hit you. You deserve it. And no, she's not here. Neither of us have anything to say to you, anyway," I answered icily and with an unwavering voice. I tried to shut the door in his face.

The bastard laughed and snapped his arm towards the flying door, blocking it like he would a punch. "Oh, I _know_ I deserve it, Nikolai. But I also know you all deserve to know _why_ I left in the first place. Oh, and how you're just like I was as a teen. I wasn't as controlled as I seemed. I know what it's like to have an," he cursed in Russian, "as a father."

I glared at him.

I hated glaring; I preferred to leave that to Mom and Sonja. Glaring was the _female_ Hathaway specialty. But a traitorous part of me was intrigued as to his openness when he was renowned for being mom's polar opposite, her quiet and controlled counterpart, making him her ideal guarding partner, making them the preferred choice to be Aunt Lissa's _or anyone's_ guardians.

Why did they have to _both_ be renowned, admired, and parents- _**MY**_ parents? Out of everyone, why did Sonja and I have to be the offspring of Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov? Why did we suddenly have the most badass guardians as our parents? Why did we have to now have the pressure of living up to _both_ their reputations?

"What makes you think we're going to let you explain being absent since we were conceived? What makes you think the girls are going to listen to a word you say? That I'll let you speak?"

"Shut up, Nikolai Hathaway, and let him in. He's still your father, when push comes to shove," Mom's voice boomed from behind Guardian Belikov. "Besides, I want to hear his weak-ass excuse."

"Hey, Roza," Belikov spun and smiled at my mother.

"Ew!" I exclaimed and backed away from the door. He so was _not_ _**FLIRTING**_ with Mom... was he? Ew! No! Just... **No**! That's so _wrong_! And _gross_. He's, like 40, and she's, like, 34. They're too _old_ to be flirting! Especially with me here. And I don't know where he got the guts from to do that when she was furious with him.

"I'm still mad at you, Comrade," she unleashed a smile that I only saw... well... _never_. It was one that would make any man follow her like a lost puppy. And apparently my father was no exception.

"Ew! Stop flirting!" _I so_ _ **don't**_ _need a tiny sibling he'll walk out on too._

"We weren't," they sang in unison while she tugged him in through the door. "Now," she turned to him and gestured to the sofa. "Sit and explain yourself. You too, Nikolai."

"Mom!"

Her eyes narrowed dangerously while Belikov sat. "Don't talk back, Nikolai Hathaway Belikov. I'm not in the mood for you to suddenly turn into your sister. _**SIT**_ ," she ordered.

The addition of _his_ name made me recoil and sit on the closest sofa. First Sonja says I'm too much like him, now Mom goes chastising me with his name. It bloody hurt. I didn't want her to acknowledge it, I didn't want Mom giving him the satisfaction. Mom sat on the opposite sofa to him but the tension between them was so palpable I was suffocating.

"Explain," I ordered Belikov.

His eyes narrowed as Mom's had. "Don't speak to guardians like that, Nikolai Belikov." _Ouch! That burned like a bitch._

"He's a _Hathaway_ ," Mom reminded with a glare. "Now, explain why you're here."

"I wanted to explain what actually happened the night I left." He met both my eyes and Mom's. "Where's Sonja?"


	6. Chapter 6: LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER

Sonja'sPOV

I escaped to the woods surrounding campus. I couldn't sort through my swirling, accumulating, cyclonic flood of thoughts. I couldn't control the onslaught of emotions, one after another threatened to overtake me.

Out of anyone to be a dead-beat father it was him? The famous, legendary, textbook, history book, and curriculum-inclusion worthy Guardian Belikov! Worthy of that recognition my ass! And famous for what? Leaving behind pregnant teenage mentees? Really respectful and makes him so respectable. Note the heavy, dripping sarcasm. Then he dared turn up two years before I graduate! He dared take me on as his student.

And Mom! Mom had known all this time. She'd known that we were studying our father's exploits. She knew I'd been given my father as my mentor. She Knew! Still she'd said nothing. Not a breath, not a syllable. Not a clue about a clue. And Niko was his damn reflection! How did she forget to mention our father when his mini clone was my brother– her Son! She should have sat us down when I stormed in this afternoon and told me that slave driver had been her mentor and the father of her twins. Finding out at dinner… That was absolutely horrendous. I'd never seen Mom, The Guardian Rose Hathaway, as being weak. But she had been. She could slaughter a small pack of Strigoi on her own without hesitation or fear. But she lacked the courage to tell us who our father was. Nice, Mom. Thanks. Real nice way of learning the truth and your true character.

I shook and my roiling emotions had made me forget to pay attention to my surroundings. This far from campus, this close to the wards, not paying attention was a very stupid thing to be doing. Guardians would be swarming this part of the forest.

I was brutally reminded of that when I crashed into a wall. Not a wall, exactly. But a guardian's chest and wall of abs. Instinct told me who it was before I looked up. Relief flooded through me. He wouldn't get me in trouble. He never had. Actually, he saved my butt nearly as much as Mom did.

His arms snaked around my waist, literally saving my butt from a bruise my own idiocy would have created. He steadied me as he always did. Shivers traveled up and down my spine, and warmth spread over my entire body, heating and boiling my veins in something polar opposite to the fury that had put me on the verge of a bigger blow-out with Mom… if that was even possible. His touch caused another, more powerful fog in my mind.

"Hey," his deep voice flowed over me like a caress. Safety. "Are you alright?" he asked with such touching, genuine concern. Care.

I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing. I couldn't very well lie to him. "No. In all reality. No." He could always tell when I was lying. Vulnerability.

"What's wrong, Sonja?" With two fingers he slowly and gently tipped my chin up so I was forced to look in those powerful blue eyes. I was immediately lost in them. Weakness. In their depths I found nothing but worry and curiosity. Support. They reminded me of a raging sea in the middle of a storm, and fascinated me just as much. Attraction.

I knew it was wrong. I knew it was exactly what I shouldn't feel. I knew it was dangerous and not to mention illegal. He was a guardian. And not just any guardian. My brother's flamin' hot and godly gorgeous kickass mentor. Niko's Older mentor. And I was crushing on him. I had to be losing my mind. I had be going mental, considering I failed fighting these crazy emotions. What made it harder still was that every now and then, just very rarely, I believed there could be hope he felt the same way, that he shared in this insanity. I mean, he'd never openly said or done anything. But there were moments like these where his eyes bored into mine almost searchingly. There were moments just like this one, in the shadows, where he held me and I just can't pull away, where he doesn't seem to have it in him to release me. There were moments just like this one, where he let worry and concern etch itself on his face. They were so few and far between, but they were there, and they drove me mad in the interim.

I was just about to find my voice when a deep, Russian accented voice shattered the moment. Time to be sent back to jail apparently.

"Guardian Bradley, what do you think you're doing!" his voice carried a very strong trace of anger and suspicion. "Step this way, Sonja Hathaway."

James immediately released me. Loneliness. My anger grew and rose to new heights I didn't know I had that much fury in me. Of everyone to bust us, it had to be him! He stole our very rare moment of alone time. How would he feel if someone had taken a quiet moment between him and Mom all those years ago? Hypocritical ass.

"No. And it's none of your business, Guardian Belikov," I hissed.

"I didn't ask you, young lady— I'll deal with you later. I won't say it again, Sonja, get over here. Your mother won't be happy when she finds out what you're doing."

"Why do you mind what I do, Guardian Belikov?" I spat. "Not everyone is a cold, cowardly bastard like you. There are men who don't leave a pregnant teen! There's people who take responsibility for their actions. James is one of those good men!" Hope that I'd hurt him, punished him licked at me.

"Go home, Sonja." His look told me not to mess with him, but his deep, slow inhale told me I'd successfully unbalanced him. Pride welled up within me. Good. He deserved to hurt. And it was about damn time.

"Don't tell me what to do!" I screamed furiously. Now he gets all fatherly and demanding? Well, I'm not playing. "You aren't my father!" I wanted to defy him, and I was itching to throttle him for all he'd done, for missing out on Everything.

Except I couldn't get near him. James's almost-made-of-steel arms held me against his chest in his vice-like grip. He murmured soothing Spanish sweet nothings in my ear to calm me. It was working until another voice joined in the mix.

My mother's. She appeared in front of me. "What's going on here?" I picked up my fruitless struggle to escape once again.

"That's what I'm trying to find out. When I found them, they were in each other's arms." I was ready to scream at him that he was being a hypocrite. I wanted to spar his ass to the ground and yell at him to get lost, to leave James, and my family, alone, to stay with that scar-faced bitch of a Moroi he'd broken my mother's heart and character to be with instead.

"Guardian Hathaway, I swear—" James's nervous reassurance was cut off. His arms around me relaxed at the look in her brown eyes that even caused me to stop struggling.

"You can go now. Both of you."

Judging by her expression I know we're both up for some serious talks with her. I know she won't let this slide. She's the feared Guardian Rose Hathaway for a reason. Belikov couldn't see that, though.

In disbelief and with wide eyes he asked, "Rose, I hope you don't mean…"

"This is none of your business, Guardian Belikov. What my daughter does and how I deal with it is MY problem and none of your concern. James, take Sonja back to her dorm."

"What!" I screeched. I Hated my dorm. I rarely used it. And when I did, it was almost like Mom used it instead of a naughty corner. She was turning me out of home for the night. It was the only sign of just how pissed off she actually was.

"You heard. Guardian Bradley, escort Sonja to her dorm. Now. I'll deal with both of you in the morning."

Despite the repercussions of Belikov happening across and causing this scene, I can't help the triumph that stirred in the pit of my stomach and lightened my mood when Belikov recoiled a couple of steps and his shock showed openly on his face. I glare at him when I passed him, with James tugging on my wrist to tell me to stop digging myself a bigger hole. As I walked I away I hoped Mom would hand him a Hathaway grilling that she'd become known for amongst the guardians and novices.


	7. FACING HER MOTHER AND FATHER?

James'sPOV  
Guardian Hathaway had told me she was going to quote, unquote, 'deal with' me 'in the morning'. But morning had long-since passed, and I had no indication as to when I'd have to meet with her. Knowing Hathaway's methods of torture, she could very well be keeping me in suspense as a means to test me. remind me again, why did I have to feel so protective of Guardian Rose Hathaway's daughter, Sonja, and find her so... beautiful?

"What's up with your sister?" I demanded from Nikolai the second he walked into afternoon training.  
"I think you mean: what's up with both of us?" His eyes shot over to Belikov's.  
"It's not that bad, Nikolai."  
"Not _that_ _**BAD**_? Belikov, you _abandoned_ her!"  
Belikov's mask didn't falter under the pressure. "I didn't choose to leave. I explained this already."  
"You chose to stay away."  
"Because I wasn't allowed to come back unless she did."  
"Nikolai Hathaway," I warned. His face was set in an expression Sonja and I had come to know and name his _impulse face_. "Don't. Sonja gets into enough trouble, don't join her in her next detention." Which I would likely get her out of with some extra task or something like that.

Over the last three months I'd really upped my defensiveness regarding her. She got in trouble; I did my darnedest to get her out of it. Someone spread nasty rumours about her; I had to resist the urge to punch the person starting or spreading them. She bat those eyelashes; I was absolutely helpless under them and putty in her hands. I'd only been her brother's mentor since they were twelve years old. Not at all freaky to be developing inappropriate feelings for her. And I was still hanging onto a knife edge waiting for her mother to call me in and _speak_ to me. The older Hathaway scared me. She could have my title stripped and fired my ass in three seconds flat. She could take out a restraining order before I had the chance to blink. And god knew she could beat me to a pulp in a sparring match. So yeah, naturally she scared me.

But that didn't come close to the way Sonja terrified me. I could never lie around her. Her touch seemed to burn me right to my core and sparked an unspeakable passion in me. She understood me and called me out on my faults. She made me want to be a better person. And she goddamn understood what our jobs as guardians entailed. That, of everything, was what drew me to her most; that uncanny sense of complete understanding made her incredibly mature and made it incredibly difficult to remember she was barely _**sixteen**_ _, for crying out loud_.

"She stole you!" Nikolai fumed.  
I sighed and leaned against the wall opposite the one Belikov was sitting against with a book in hand. "NIko, let it go and start warm up."  
He glared at me before walking outside to do laps.  
"What was that about, Belikov?"  
His eyes snapped up to mine with a dangerous fire burning in them. "Sonja doesn't agree with my methods- or me. And as for what I saw last night..."  
I resisted the urge to gulp. "Yes, Belikov?"  
"Stay. Away. From. Her." The almost possessive edge scared me, but not enough that I wouldn't call him out on some rather vital points.  
My vision narrowed. "Look who's talking. The pot seems to be calling the kettle black. If anyone should stay away from her, it's you."  
"I'm her mentor, and I'm going nowhere."  
My hands quaked with the almost uncontrollable desire to break his nose or jaw or something, _anything_. "You told their mother the same thing, didn't you? But look what happened, you left her and two kids behind. For what? What good did leaving do? To Hathaway? To them? What purposed did it serve except forever altering Guardian Rose Hathaway?"  
"Be quiet!" Belikov snapped while he rose to his feet. If he was trying to be intimidating the two inch height difference didn't accumulate to much. "You don't know a thing."  
"And you know nothing about either of your children. Or do you even realize they _are_! I've mentored Niko since they were twelve and was here when they were born. I've seen them grow and change and mature. And your sudden presence has disturbed all that. So, _don't. Tell. Me. To. Stay. Away. From. Sonja. You_ _ **hypocrite**_!"  
"She's my student and my daughter, and you _will_ stay away from her if you value your career."  
I was going to dig my toes in here. Because surely couldn't be so idiot. "She's worth losing everything for. I would have believed you thought the same of their mother. But clearly not."  
A noise at the door alerted us to someone's arrival. Their heady scent drove me wild and told me all I needed to know who it was. "Will you two _stop_ arguing already!" Sonja snapped. "And Belikov, I think Mom and I can threaten him ourselves. So don't go pretending like you suddenly care. By the way, James, she wants to see you at home straight after training. And don't be late, or else she'll kick your ass."  
"Sonja!" Belikov reprimanded.  
I smiled and shook my head. "I'll be on time, whether or not _he_ lets you go when he should. Any other messages from Hathaway Senior?"  
Sonja smiled and batted her eyelashes and damn her for making me susceptible to her every whim. "None except for **_ignore him_**." She jabbed her thumb in Belikov's direction. "But apparently I got here too late."  
"Exactly. So as a result, Sonja, you've got extra laps. So go!"  
Reluctantly but with complete and unfaltering attitude, she swaggered from the supply room and joined her brother on the track.

RPOV  
"Guardian Hathaway," greeted James when I opened the door. Perfectly punctual. And perfectly mannered. That's a point or two in his favour.  
"Come through to the kitchen. I'm prepping dinner."  
"Is there anything you would like me to help with?" I'm liking this dude more by the sentence. Though that could always change. He was... _into_ my daughter, after all. I had to ensure he wasn't just after her body, unlike another mentor who was... interested in his Hathaway student.  
"Actually, there is- sit down and answer my questions. Honestly."  
"Nothing but the whole truth, so help me god," he swore and sat at the small, round, light wood kitchen table.  
"Good. Now. First things first. Has Belikov tried to chew your head off yet?" Dimitri really was a hypocrite sometimes. And this was likely the ultimate example.  
"Yes," James provided simply. I detected an edge to his voice. Humorous at that.  
"ANd?" I asked as I turned away from my food work.  
A hint of a smile danced in his eyes. "Would you hate me if I called him out on being a hypocrite?"  
My tendency towards acceptance was slowly increasing. "Now, why would you do that?"  
"Permission to laugh? Hathaway, Niko is Belikov's double. He clearly 'loved' you then left- leaving you to also shoulder the responsibility of the twins, more or less alone. He doesn't have the right to threaten me if he did that to you."  
I laughed and so did James. "So, I'm guessing you've already suffered from the hypocritical bad cop? Now, tell me what he put you through."  
The guardian sobered and began his recount.

Belikov really had no right to threaten James as he had. My respect for the guardian interested in my underage daughter went up a little with him defending our family honour. And it was true, he had seen quite a lot of the twins's milestones- almost all. He had always held a soft spot for my daughter, and I needed to be reassured he would do nothing wrong with or by her. Whatever I wanted that to actually mean.

"Okay, Guardian Bradley," time to test you.

I didn't want Sonja risking the pain I went through for no reason. I wanted my daughter to be happy and safe. Guardian James Bradley could provide her with that, especially right now when she wasn't so terribly impressed with me.  
He had always been there to catch her when I couldn't. In recent months he had saved her ass almost more often than I had. Before he graduated, he had graduated, he had been her favourite babysitter. He always spoke highly and fondly of her. His ears pricked up and his eyes twinkled at the sound of her name. He got defensive and protective of her. He was besotted with her.  
One question danced through my mind... Was this how Dimitri had appeared to Alberta and the others all those years ago? Because if it was, he sounded and looked like a lovesick fool. And with James Bradley, that's exactly what I wanted for Sonja... as long as they didn't get caught. Of course, there were a few factors I didn't like. The age difference between him and my daughter was greater than that of her parents. Only just, but it was, and because of that I had to be more wary. But I couldn't deny the same inherent truth existed for her with him as it had for me with her father: Sonja behaved around James, just as I had around Dimitri. James could discipline Sonja and she would listen to him. And for that, I had to be thankful he was older than her. Maybe, just maybe, he would learn from Dimitri's mistakes. So maybe, just maybe, he was better for her than- there was no _maybe_ about it- Guardian James Bradley _was_ better for Sonja than Dimitri had ever been for me. He was moral, but he wasn't prideful. Dimitri's pride got the better of him when his morals were compromised. James's didn't. James didn't even dare 'make a move' on Sonja, he hadn't even dare lead her on that he was anything more than protective and caring.

"Would you sleep with her?" It was the one question no mother of a teen wanted to ask her daughter's older love interest. "And don't lie- it'll only backfire on you."  
"I would make love to her- only when she was ready, only _if_ she wanted it, and only once she was old enough." The earnestness in his voice begged me to trust him. So, maybe foolhardily, I did.  
"Okay then.'  
James's expression remained controlled, though I could tell he was brimming with all types of nerves. "Okay?"  
"Okay. I accept the way you and Sonja feel for each other. But..." I let the threat dangle for a moment. I wasn't going to be a hypocrite like Dimitri, but I wasn't going to go easy on him either. Dimitri may have forgotten what young love felt like, but I certainly hadn't. I wasn't going to let Sonja risk that heartbreak. "But I don't want Belikov stumbling across any moments like he did last night. I expect you to support her, but I don't want you to give her any clues. And if you so much as glance at her the wrong way- _ever_ \- I will not hesitate to hunt you down and make you sufferer the most excruciating pain of your life. You'll be begging for a Strigoi attack by the time I'm through. If I hear of or see you touching her in a way that makes her uncomfortable to any degree, I will make you suffer that pain amplified a hundred fold. Got it?"

Bradley appeared as though he was refusing to pale or at bare minimum, gulp. He did neither. That was a good sign. I mean, he was a guardian after all- I wouldn't like him near Sonja if he showed fear in front of me. Especially after standing up to the ass known as her father. I mean, what kind of man would that make him? More importantly, what kind of _guardian_ did that make him? Not a good one, that was for sure.

"One last thing, Bradley, when it's just us three in this house- _just_ the **_THREE_** of us and in this house ONLY- I will allow you two to act like friends, but one finger, one gaze out of line, and I wont hesitate to report you. Understood?"  
He nodded with his blue eyes shining with gratitude and seriousness. "Completely understood, Guardian Hathaway."  
"Goog. Now, I'll let you go to your shift or dinner or whatever."

James'sPOV  
I left the Hathaway residence with everything in tact, but with my career on the line. Then again, I had put my career on the line the second I realized I was falling for Sonja Hathaway and couldn't bring myself to leave for her safety from the damage I could cause her if I ever lost control with her. There was nothing new about putting my career on the line for Sonja. Just like there was nothing new about her being completely, utterly, and entirely worth the risk.


End file.
